Fluent expression is not always evidence of a mind at work, but the human brain is primed to believe so. A pair of cognitive linguistics experts explain why language is not a good test of sentience.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Consciousness
Displaying 1 - 20 of 63 articles
A Google engineer claims one of the company’s chatbots has become sentient. Experts disagree, but the debate raises old questions about the nature of consciousness.
Researchers used a test designed for babies to show that rhesus monkeys can sense their own heartbeats. The finding opens up important paths of research into consciousness and mental health issues.
Plus, how a team of musicologists and computer scientists completed Beethoven’s unfinished 10th Symphony using AI. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
For each decision we make, we assign a certain level of confidence. How does the brain decide how much?
The mind is a powerful thing – it can generate both symptoms of illness and symptoms of healing. Here’s what this could tell us about consciousness.
Drugs which act through the brain chemical dopamine may one day help restore consciousness in people who have lost it.
New experiments could help scientists settle the longstanding debate about whether consciousness is generated by quantum activity.
When you lose focus or your mind goes blank, sections of your brain may be having a quick snooze.
Consciousness is sometimes referred to as ‘the ghost’ in the machinery of our brain. Is it time we gave up the ghost to focus on the machine?
Decades of research gives insight into how free our choices really are.
As the UK’s first clinic to offer psychedelic drugs for mental health disorders opens, a study reveals that informed users don’t have problems with self control.
The mystery of how the brain creates consciousness still puzzles scientists, but the mechanics of waking up are starting to be understood.
How we perceive what’s going on in the periphery can reveal a lot about our conscious minds.
Philosophers say now is the time to mull over what qualities should grant an artificially intelligent machine moral standing.
Amid trying times, the collaboration between Western science and Eastern philosophy provides numerous health benefits and a path to understanding the natural world.
The experience of a colour can be profound, but it doesn’t really exist other than in our minds.
Are you a worry wart? Not to worry. Turns out you were born that way, to some degree. Humans have a default mode in their brains that lead them to worry, but there are many ways to switch gears.
At the heart of the debate is that most fundamental question: what does it mean to be human?
This World Philosophy Day we remember three female philosophers who are largely unknown, yet made important contributions to idealism
Top contributors
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Hon Professor of Neuropsychology, Cardiff University
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Emeritus Professor of Psychology, UCL
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Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Leeds Beckett University
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Regents Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Oklahoma State University
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Affiliate Guest in Psychology, University of California Santa Barbara
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Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Durham University
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Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology, University of Cambridge
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Lead, Cognition and Consciousness Imaging Group, Division of Anaesthesia, University of Cambridge
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Professor of AI at UNSW, Research Group Leader, UNSW Sydney
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Associate Professor, Data Science and AI, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University
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Senior Research Fellow, Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
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Associate professor, The University of Melbourne
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Honorary Fellow, Australian Catholic University
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Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford
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Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Education; Curriculum Director, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland
